Summary presentation after the first phase of DARPA's SYNAPSE project

The goal of SyNAPSE is to create electronic systems, inspired by the human brain, that can understand, adapt, and respond to information in fundamentally different ways than traditional computers. While current computers are organized into distinct processor and memory units that function in accordance with their programming, the brain is organized as an intimate and distributed web of very simple processors (neurons) and memory (synapses) that spontaneously communicate and learn their functions. Using knowledge of the brain’s organization as a platform, SyNAPSE is developing integrated circuits with high densities of electronic devices and integrated communication networks that approximate the function and connectivity of neurons and synapses. This program has also developed tools to support this specific area of hardware development such as circuit design tools, large-scale computer simulations of hardware function, and virtual training environments that can test and benchmark these systems.

"So far, SyNAPSE has successfully demonstrated all the core hardware, architecture, simulation, and evaluation capabilities needed for a new generation of intelligent electronic machines," said Todd Hylton, DARPA's SyNAPSE program manager.
Goals for the upcoming phase include chip-fabrication process development, design and validation of single-chip systems, and demonstration of these systems in virtual environments that emphasize behavioral tasks related to navigation and perception. "Now that all the building blocks are available," said Hylton, "our next task is to start building functioning systems out of them."